1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a developer recovering device which is provided in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, for recovering a waste developer, as well as an image forming apparatus having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In image forming apparatuses utilizing an electrophotographic process, such as copying machines, printers, and the like, a toner image formed on an image bearing member is transferred onto a recording material, and then fixed onto the recording material by a fixing device. After the toner image has been transferred onto the recording material, a residual toner on the image bearing member is removed from the image bearing member as a waste toner by a cleaning device, and the waste toner is transported to waste toner containers. When the waste toner containers are filled with the waste toner to capacity, the waste toner containers are exchanged.
In a technique disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 2004-101592, in the electrophotographic image forming apparatus described above, among the waste toner containers corresponding to the plurality of image bearing members, respectively, a volume of the waste toner container corresponding to a black toner is larger than volumes of the waste toner containers corresponding to the other color toners.
In a technique disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 2005-242274, in the electrophotographic image forming apparatus described above, among the waste toner containers corresponding to the plurality of image bearing members, respectively, a volume of the waste toner container corresponding to an image bearing member situated on a downstream side of a transporting direction of a transferred medium is larger than a volume of the waste toner container corresponding to the image bearing member situated on an upstream side of a transporting direction of the transferred medium.
In a technique disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 2004-21134, in the electrophotographic image forming apparatus described above, by providing a buffer portion for temporarily storing the waste toner, a plurality of images are continuously formed without overflowing of the waste toner even after the waste toner containers have been filled to capacity.
In the techniques disclosed in JP-A 2004-101592 and JP-A 2005-242274, when any of the waste toner containers is filled with the waste toner to capacity, it is necessary to stop an image forming operation in the image forming apparatus in order to exchange the waste toner container.
Moreover, in the technique disclosed in JP-A 2004-21134, by temporarily storing the waste toner in the buffer portion, it is possible to exchange the waste toner container which has been filled to capacity, without stopping the image forming operation in the image forming apparatus. However, the waste toner left for a certain period is solidified compared with the waste toner which has been immediately cleaned. Therefore, the waste toner has a tendency to be jammed in a transporting path and the buffer portion. As a result, when the waste toner is transported using a screw, an undesired force may be possibly applied to the screw and a gear provided to rotate the screw, resulting in a breakdown of the screw and the gear.